Eph and Dutch work to execute Eph's plan against Palmer. Meanwhile Fet & Dr. Martinez accompany Setrakian on his search for the Lumen's true owner. And Councilwoman Feraldo makes a bold move in her quest to take New York City back from the Strigoi.

"Short but significant aside: Can we please have a moment of silence for those snazzy opening credits that ran exactly one time? (That would be in front of last week’s episode, 'The Battle for Red Hook.') The comic book-flavored intro came from French artist Remy Gente, who presciently posted the 71-second video to his Vimeo channel.

"It's a fantastic bit of promotion, and it really captures the spirit of the series and the bestselling trilogy from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan on which it's based.

"I'm just glad it has a digital life, where superfans like me can watch and rewatch, but it’s a missed opportunity not to use it for the TV show. It could’ve been the perfect permanent calling card."

"I couldn't find a way to work it in [my review] above, but how about the episode's pseudo-tag where Dutch is chained and screaming in a padded room while Eichorst stares menacingly at her? Such a disturbing, perfect image to close out the episode.

Fet delivers the one-liner of the night when one of the strigoi-infested apartments they search still has music blasting and strobe lights pumping: 'Gotta respect a guy who keeps the party going no matter what.'

Feraldo has been forced to move to Manhattan by the Mayor, but she's got a plan: if the rich folk want her help, they’ll have to donate 1% of their property value to the cause, therefore helping out the poorer areas.

Here's hoping that with Coco becoming a vampire her character and storyline will significantly improve.

This episode is more exciting than anything else this season, but not to be ignored is the fact that it’s also much funnier. Fast and loose suits The Strain.

Maybe I'm nitpicking or missing something, but how did that random cop on the street know Eph was the shooter? There's no way they caught a glimpse of him at any point, right?"

So, I had a hell of a day and the kittens were running wild during this, but I wasn't as taken with this episode as Ken Fowle was - he thought the streamlined narrative worked much better and gave the show more focus. I actually thought it made the show less distinctive and more bland. I don't want bland fare, I want FANfare. Gimmie unique.

Anyway I liked the development with Coco (although we could've seen that a mile away right? No way Eph was going to make an accurate shot), and the "pseudo-tag" Fowle mentions was one of the most memorable images/scenes of the episode - bravo for that!

Color me disappointed that the title sequence popped back to the B-movie camp sequence, instead of Remy Gente's gorgeous artwork and vibe that the comic-book sequence imparted; why, FX, why?posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:06 PM on September 16, 2015

Yeah, where did the fun titles go? Back to the slithery twangy-strings title card, and now it seems very short and dour.

I don't think Coco's a vampire yet: she's like Palmer, healed/rejuvenated by The Master's essence but not worm-infected. (And it strikes me that Setrakian is using an attenuated version of that with his distilled worm-juice.)

But he's right about Setrakian's storyline this episode being a damp squib: finally he anti-climactically find the Occido Lumen only to immediately lose it again. (To who, I wonder? It's silver-bound so can only be handled by humans.)

Also: best moment was the overhead shot of the cell, Eph pressed flat against the wall and strigoi stingers lashing through the bars, almost-but-not-quite reaching him.posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:18 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]